Israfiel awoke from his slumber with a smile. Removing the blanket from his body and neatly fixing his bed he changes from his sweats and undershirt, dressing himself in a white shirt and black combat pants while tying his hair into a rattail. He grabbed a white jacket and zipped it up, rolling the sleeves just below the elbow and slung over a simple black vest that covered just enough of his upper body to protect vital organs along with numerous magazine pouches and a radio next to his left shoulder, finalizing his gear with knee pads and boots.
Heading over to his closet Israfiel took out a large metallic case and gently placed it on his bed before going back to grab a few small boxes and setting them behind the larger case. Gently placing his hands over the case's latches Israfiel prayed "Oh Law, on my Oath to her Majesty, my weapon shall be the bringer of her will and shall destroy they who oppose her, until all has seen her noble actions."
Slowly undoing the latches he opens the case, revealing an XM25 CDTE airburst Originium launcher, gently picking up the weapon like you would a newborn baby and thoroughly checking the weapon for any dirt or grime before attaching it to a sling and placing it over his shoulder. Inside the small boxes are multiple magazines carrying refined and custom made Originium rounds, he takes six magazines and places them in his vest's pockets.
After putting the cases back in the closet Israfiel grabs one last item from inside his nightstand, a pair of thick rimmed and tinted sunglasses and puts them on. Doing one last check on his gear Israfiel gives a satisfied nod and exits his room walking down the hallway, along the way he sees both the Doctor and Scout talking to each other.
Walking up to them he waves "Doctor, Scout, a pleasant morning to you two."
Looking up from their conversation the two greet him "Good morning Israfiel, I see you're ready for today's mission already." Scout gives a simple nod while the Doctor responds.
"Yep, and I can assume that Priestess will be our eyes in the sky as always?" Israfiel asks while stepping in line with the two as they walk down the hallway.
The Doctor nods their head as they enter a room. Off to the right wall, Priestess is sitting in a chair in front of nine monitors that display various views from drones. Despite hearing the trio enter she doesn't turn to greet them, instead keeping her focus on flying the drones. To the left is where Ace and Kal'tsit stand, overlooking a map and discussing battle plans. The trio stay silent as they pass Priestess and meet with the others.
"-nd here is where they'll likely try to escape from." Kal'tsit states, pointing to a location on the map.
"Kal'tsit, Ace, something wrong?" The Doctor looks down at the map and sees the multiple lines and words drawn over it. "Oh, I see. You're looking for their possible escape routes, right?" They point to a path that leads deeper into the dunes. "Here, they're more likely to head deeper into the desert than to try and climb over the dunes while fighting us. Especially when we're going to be surrounding them from the high ground."
Kal'tsit and Ace stare and analyze where the Doctor pointed to. With a sigh Kal'tsit nods her head "I suppose you're right, trying to fight against higher elevation would be bad for them."
The group of Ace, Scout, Kal'tsit, and Doctor begin discussing more combat plans while Israfiel tunes them out and walks over to Priestess. He stares at the multiple screens that she's somehow controlling simultaneously with a single keyboard and mouse.
The first three monitors are aerial views of the battlefield, showing multiple masked bandits in baggy clothing, a few of them might be Sarkaz but it's hard to tell due to how high the drones are. The next three show the vast desert surrounding the camp and are constantly searching for anyone who might be hiding before their attack. The final three are the ones moving the most, the drones are scouting deeper through the odd valley of dunes until they eventually stop at a mysterious structure. But before Israfiel could question why a building is in the middle of a desert, the screen shuts off.
"Little Angel, it's not good to stare at a lady, she might get conscious of your stare." She chides him while never having taken her eyes off the screens.
"Oh, my apologies Madam Priestess." He gives a short animated bow with a smile. "I could not help but be enamored by your work. How do you manage to control all these drones at once? Is it your Arts?"
There's a short pause from her "...Yes, you could say that." She noncommittally answers.
"I see, sorry for disrupting your work then. I'm glad to have you watching over us as always, Priestess." Israfiel doesn't notice the pause, mistaking it for her being focused on flying the drones.
Priestess gives a hum in acknowledgement before returning to her work as Israfiel walks back over to the others.
"-et's set out, we've discussed enough. Anymore and we'd be here all day." The Doctor orders, "Ace, your squad will be the main attack force. You'll be pushing through once Israfiel has disposed of their cover and pushed them into open combat. Then Scout's squad will pick off as many as they can before you begin fighting, further orders will be given once phase one is completed."
The three collectively nod their heads and leave the room towards the helipad. When they make it outside, they're met with a large courtyard that's filled with various military personnel. Making their way through the courtyard they arrive at the helipad that houses their only airship and see both Ace's and Scout's squads are already there. Each of them are dressed similarly to their leaders with the only indicator as to who's who are their various racial features. Some are Perros, others are Liberi or Lupos, and there's even a Zalak and Archosauria. It was a very diverse team despite being based in Kazdel.
Israfiel though, does not have a squad. When the Doctor told him he wouldn't be able to fit in a squad or lead one of his own, it greatly saddened him. But when they explained the reasons as to why he couldn't he reluctantly understood. That conversation will continue to sadden him until he either proves himself worthy of being an elite like Ace and Scout, or an emergency forces him to take command. Though he never hopes for a situation like that to ever occur.
Once everyone sat down the airship set off for the desert camp. During the flight both Ace and Scout briefed their teams about the coming battle, though Israfiel tuned them out since he already understood what needed to be done and was quite confident that he could wipe them all out before anyone else needed to fight.
Once they reached the landing zone the airship's bay doors opened, revealing the desert beneath them and the bandit camp five kilometers from their location. Unbuckling from his seat, Israfiel walked to the back of the ship, striking a running stance, much to the confusion of both Ace and Scout. Before either of them could speak up Israfiel was already off in a sprint. Their alarmed yells did nothing to stop him as he continued running and just before reaching the open bay Israfiel jumped into the air, doing a backwards flip while activating his Arts.
"Woohoo!" He cheered as the air passed by him
"Oi, kid!" Ace shouted but couldn't do anything to stop him, "Pilot, land us faster!"
"Hey." A masked man in a red shirt started.
"Yeah?" A masked man in an orange shirt responds.
"You ever wonder why we're here?" The man in red questions.
"It's one of life's great mysteries isn't it? Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, or is there really a God watching everything? You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don't know, man, but it keeps me up at night." The man in orange deeply responds.
The two men stare at each other in silence before the man in red speaks again.
"...What? No, I meant-" far off in the distance he hears something. It sounded like yelling? "Hey-do you hear that?" Not long after the man in red asks this, the sound of what he thinks is an engine begins to enter his ears and is rapidly becoming louder. The two men hurriedly search their surroundings but find nothing that is causing this noise. It isn't until the voice becomes clearer do they realize where it's coming from. Right above them.
"YEEEAAAHHH!" the voice shouts, revealing Israfiel to be gliding down from the sky with Liberi wings of light attached to his back. Before the two men could do anything Israfiel quickly brings his grenade launcher out and fires off two shots. Thanks to the supposed genius the Sankta have with Originium Arts, he's able to accurately time both of his shots to explode five feet above their target.
When the rounds reach their destination they preemptively explode, causing numerous small shards of Originium to shoot out in every direction and explode. The only thing left of the two men are pieces of their flesh and shattered masks.
With a final flap of his wings, Israfiel reaches the blood stained sand beneath him and dispels his Arts, the wings vanishing into motes of light. A grin is plastered on his face as he laughs, not noticing the airship landing behind him
"That was awesome! Never done that before but man was it worth it!" Once the adrenaline slowly exits his system he realizes what he's done and his face immediately pales as he turns around to see the entirety of the attack team practically glaring at him.
"Kid, you can't be doing that. Not during an operation, and you didn't even set your radio to the proper frequency so that the Doctor can command us." Ace scolds him, making the young Sankta sheepishly rub the back of his neck before setting his radio to the proper frequency.
"Thank you Ace." The Doctor's voice booms from the radio "Now then, Israfiel, I expect you to behave yourself on this mission as it's very important to Theresa. You don't want to disappoint her if you fail, do you?" It was a very low blow by the Doctor, but they knew it was the only way to get the hyperactive angel to listen consistently.
"I'm sorry Doctor, I'll behave, for it is Her Majesty's will to unite all of Sarkaz." His tone immediately shifted into one of sorrow. The Doctor couldn't help but feel guilty for using Theresa's name like this, but they had to do everything to ensure the operation was a success.
They traveled across the desert, keeping an eye out for any scouts or patrols that could give their attack away. They were lucky that the two man patrol Israfiel dealt with were too far out for anyone to notice their disappearance.
Their walk took an hour to complete but they eventually made their way to the dunes surrounding the bandit camp. Slowly peeking over the hill Scout observed about fifty bandits inside the camp, clicking on the transmitter for his radio he spoke.
"Scout here, I see about fifty enemy combatants, how copy?" Letting go of his radio he waited for a response, double checking his headcount.
"Solid copy Scout, confirmed fifty enemy combatants, you're cleared to engage when ready." The voice of Priestess came and Scout nodded, turning to his allies he motioned for Israfiel to begin.
Israfiel nodded and slowly crept up to the top of the hill, being careful not to expose himself. He takes a look at Ace's squad and gives them a nod, bringing his launcher into his arms and aiming it at the closest tent, doing one last prayer to Law.
"Oh Law, may your blessings guide my weapon to bring victory to my allies so that peace can forever be held." And he pulled the trigger.
A heavy thunk was heard and soon after multiple explosions ripped the first tent to shreds, killing and heavily injuring anyone inside. The bandits immediately were alarmed and tried to organize themselves to counter attack, but before anyone could begin another explosion caused them to scatter and hide, then another, and another. The explosions kept coming, slowly destroying any cover they would've had against their attackers.
And then the battle truly began. Ace's squad roared down the hill to combat the enemies while Scout's squad began picking off anyone they could. Israfiel stopped his bombardment as soon as Ace's team reached the bottom of the hill, there was nothing more he could do without injuring his allies. So he waited for the Doctor's orders as he watched Ace's squad systematically cull the bandit's numbers. The wait felt like an eternity to the Sankta, but thankfully the Doctor seemed to notice and spoke.
"Israfiel, eleven o'clock from Ace's position. Five bandits are trying to flee, stop them."
Not bothering to respond, Israfiel raised his launcher until he knew the arc of his rounds would hit the fleeing bandits. Pulling the trigger twice the resulting explosions killed three out of the five who tried to flee, the remaining two had managed to barely survive, both sporting deep wounds that would eventually kill them from blood loss. They shouldn't have to go through that agony, so he called out.
"Scout, Ace's position, eleven o'clock, two are severely injured." The elite sniper turned his scope and saw the injured bandits. Wasting no time he quickly shot the first through the head and with trained ease loaded another arrow to finish off the second.
With that the battle swiftly came to a close. The few remaining bandits surrendered and were detained. Israfiel, Ace, and Scout were standing in the middle of the destroyed camp awaiting the Doctor's new orders.
"Good work everyone, phase two of this operation is now beginning. You'll head deeper into the desert by following the surrounding dunes. You'll eventually reach a large metallic structure that's half buried in the sand. The structure is an ancient ruin and holds technology beyond our understanding. It'll be a large metal box, you'll be retrieving it and bringing it back to base." The Doctor briefed everyone, nodding their heads.
Cautiously they traveled through the valley of dunes that slowly revealed the structure the Doctor informed them of. It was strange how a structure of this size was able to be hidden by just the small desert dunes but none of them bothered questioning it. If it was important enough that the Doctor was personally leading them, instead of completing their Oripathy research, then it had to be something that would further their progress.
The structure had no door, only an archway that led them inside. Upon entering they were met with an expansive metal interior, it was almost futuristic compared to the more modern cities in Tera. Lines of glowing light led deeper into the darkness, but before they could contemplate delving into the depths of the unknown Scout called out to them.
"Found it!" When they looked over to Scout they found him lightly tapping on a metal container that was the size of Ace.
"Alright people, we're getting this thing out of here. Tadpole, Vap, Red Slime, Wall, Kroc, go help Scout carry that thing. Everyone else set up a perimeter outside." Ace ordered, getting nods from everyone as they set out to do their set tasks.
Heading back outside Israfiel laid down on the desert hill, quietly peeking over and scanning for any more bandits. Seeing none he turned around and saw everyone else was set up similarly to him, Ace and Sly were right outside the arch, ready to act in case anything happened. Toothrock and Crisper were on the opposite hill from him, overlooking the other half of the desert through their scopes. Cosmo and Gizmo were further out, keeping an eye out on the path they came from and seemed to be arguing about something.
It took a few minutes but eventually they managed to lift the container out of the structure and over the dunes. The airship had landed a minute after and they all boarded it. The remainder of the flight was thankfully without issue as Ace gave Israfiel a slightly harsher scolding.
"Are you sure we should be bringing that thing here?" Priestess questioned.
"If Kal'tsit sent Rim Biliton the coordinates I think she did then it's safe to say something bad is going to happen." The Doctor responded, sitting down next to her and analyzing the various drone feeds.
"Think it has something to do with her moody brother? He's been becoming more distant with her recently." She brought up a valid point and though the Doctor wasn't too close to Theresa, they were good friends and every so often she came into his office or lab to complain about work and whatnot.
"Probably, it happens all the time in politics when there are two siblings in high places of power. Though I wouldn't say it's a guarantee to be Theresis, we'll just have to wait and see."
Priestess sighs, "Always the politics with you, can't you just learn to relax a bit?" It was always work for the Doctor, work, work, work. She understood why they worked so hard, as it was partially her fault after all. But didn't they understand that too much work was bad for them?
"Sorry, I'll relax once they all come back. From what I heard, Theresa is planning to head outside of Kazdel." His weak reassurance did not assure her one bit, but in the end she decided to let it go.
"I'm sure the Royal Court won't like that."
"They probably won't. Knowing how conservative they are, they'll probably speak against her." A sigh came through the Doctor's mask as they held a hand against it.
"There, there." Priestess patted the Doctor on their head. "You should go relax now, they're almost back. I'll handle the rest for today." Her whispered words brought some comfort to the Doctor as they stood up and headed to the door.
"Alright, and thank you." With that the Doctor left the room and headed for their personal quarters, reaching their room they pulled out a key and unlocked the door. The room was spartan like without any personal decorations and had multiple post it boards. Each filled to the brim with various papers and notes.
When the Doctor reached their dresser they placed a hand on their mask. A short hiss emanated from it as the hydraulics released their hold on the mask, revealing a person with pale skin, snow white hair that was tied into a small ponytail, and dark gray eyes.
The Doctor sighed and removed their coat, revealing their skinny physique. They laid down on their bed and placed an arm over their forehead, slowly closing their eyes and allowing the embrace of slumber to take them.
And here's the next chapter of Gone Were Angels. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it.
If you want, feel free to leave a comment about anything really, I'm always looking forward to what you think about my writing and how I can improve it.
